I actually liked this episode a lot more than I thought I would. It turns out to be quite a bit more complex than it sounds and has some great dialog between Starsky and Hutch.
Starsky is head over heels for the wrong girl again, this time a mobster's daughter. He's sort of undercover to get close to her, (but not really, because he's using his real name). But the situation is more complex because he's being used by some bad good guys (Feds) to get some bad bad guys to put pressure on her father. Starsky and Hutch want to bring her father to justice but the Feds are setting him up to get wasted by his cohorts. This puts Starsky and Hutch in a tight squeeze and makes the plot a lot more interesting.
I especially like the dialog between Starsky and Hutch where they try to work out how (or if) Starsky the cop can actually make it work with Rosie the mobster's daughter. Hutch has gentle warnings but when he sees Starsky is being used, also has his back and jumps into the fray to defend him. (I contrast this to the "Ballad for a Blue Lady" episode of Season 4, when Hutch is in a similar situation. Starsky's no help to Hutch at all and Hutch walks away alone and dejected. Oh, how I hate Season 4). The little wink that Hutch gives Starsky after one such discussion is a brilliant piece of non-verbal support when words were hard to convey. I'd love to know if that was scripted or spontaneous by DS, because it was easy to miss but priceless when you catch it.
The scenes with Starsky and his girl are just on the edge of sappy, but they don't quite cross and they stay believable for me. I like Starsky's final conversation with her where he laments that he keeps having to lose love to be a cop.
A nice solid episode. I'm starting to get much more pleased with Season 3.
Starsky is head over heels for the wrong girl again, this time a mobster's daughter. He's sort of undercover to get close to her, (but not really, because he's using his real name). But the situation is more complex because he's being used by some bad good guys (Feds) to get some bad bad guys to put pressure on her father. Starsky and Hutch want to bring her father to justice but the Feds are setting him up to get wasted by his cohorts. This puts Starsky and Hutch in a tight squeeze and makes the plot a lot more interesting.
I especially like the dialog between Starsky and Hutch where they try to work out how (or if) Starsky the cop can actually make it work with Rosie the mobster's daughter. Hutch has gentle warnings but when he sees Starsky is being used, also has his back and jumps into the fray to defend him. (I contrast this to the "Ballad for a Blue Lady" episode of Season 4, when Hutch is in a similar situation. Starsky's no help to Hutch at all and Hutch walks away alone and dejected. Oh, how I hate Season 4). The little wink that Hutch gives Starsky after one such discussion is a brilliant piece of non-verbal support when words were hard to convey. I'd love to know if that was scripted or spontaneous by DS, because it was easy to miss but priceless when you catch it.
The scenes with Starsky and his girl are just on the edge of sappy, but they don't quite cross and they stay believable for me. I like Starsky's final conversation with her where he laments that he keeps having to lose love to be a cop.
A nice solid episode. I'm starting to get much more pleased with Season 3.
